Attorney Job Description: Duties, Skills, & Qualifications

Hiring an Attorney: What to Expect

Law firm candidates come from other firms in the same practice area, from judicial clerkships, and from the recent graduating classes of law schools in the region; in-house candidates come almost entirely from firms, usually after 4 or more years, and government offices hire from law schools, from firms, and from other agencies. Screen for bar admission in the states the role requires, for the matters the candidate handled with primary responsibility instead of as support, and for a writing sample the candidate drafted alone. Ask the candidate to describe a matter where the client wanted something the law did not allow and how they delivered the news, because delivering that news is a large part of the job.

Attorney postings often go wrong by listing a practice area the firm or company does not do enough of to keep the hire busy, or listing 4 practice areas for 1 seat. Describe the matters the attorney will work on in a typical month, the billable hour target or the caseload if there is one, who the attorney reports to, and whether the work is in court, at a desk, or both. Candidates with options skip postings that read like a generic lawyer-wanted ad.

A posting for this role should name the research and drafting tools the attorney will use, including AI tools such as CoCounsel or Lexis+ AI, and state who reviews AI output before it reaches a client or a court. For a junior attorney, the posting should also state which matters the person will own in the first year, so candidates can tell a training role from a document review queue.

On legal searches, 4 Corner Resources submits qualified candidates in an average of 4.5 days, clients interview an average of 1.55 candidates per hire, and we submit 1.75 candidates per hire.

Attorney Core Responsibilities

• Advise clients or internal business leaders on legal rights, risks, and options, in writing and in person
• Research statutes, regulations, and case law using Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg Law, check every authority cited, and write memoranda that state a conclusion and the reasoning behind it
• Draft, review, and negotiate contracts, pleadings, motions, briefs, opinions, or transaction documents appropriate to the practice area
• Review AI-generated research, summaries, and first drafts for accuracy before they go to a client, a court, or opposing counsel, and follow local court rules on disclosing AI use
• Manage matters from intake through resolution, including deadlines, court rules, discovery, and settlement discussions
• Represent clients in court hearings, depositions, arbitrations, mediations, and agency proceedings
• File documents through CM/ECF and state court e-filing portals and appear at remote hearings and depositions on Zoom or Microsoft Teams
• Supervise paralegals, legal assistants, and junior attorneys on assigned matters and review their work
• Record time daily in the billing system, such as Clio, Aderant, or Elite 3E, and meet the billable hour or productivity target
• Maintain client confidentiality and privilege, including in cloud and AI tools that process client data, and follow the state rules of professional conduct
• Communicate case status, strategy, and costs to clients at the intervals they expect
• Complete continuing legal education and keep the license in good standing in each admitted state
• Participate in business development, bar activities, or community legal work as the employer expects

Required Skills and Qualifications

Hard skills

• Juris Doctor from an ABA-accredited law school and active admission to the state bar where the role sits
• Legal research and analysis in Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg Law
• Drafting skill in the documents the practice area uses, from a complaint and a motion for summary judgment to a master services agreement or an asset purchase agreement
• Working knowledge of civil procedure, evidence, and the local rules of the courts the role appears in
• Experience with practice management, document management, and e-discovery tools such as Clio, NetDocuments, iManage, or Relativity, including technology-assisted review
• Working knowledge of generative AI legal tools such as CoCounsel, Lexis+ AI, or Harvey, and of the professional conduct rules on competence, confidentiality, and supervision that apply to them
• Electronic filing in CM/ECF and the state court e-filing portal
• Negotiation experience with opposing counsel or counterparties
• Familiarity with the substantive law of the practice area at the depth the seniority level requires
• Clear, organized written work that a client, a judge, or an executive can read without a legal background

Soft skills

• Judgment about when a client’s problem is a legal problem and when it is a business problem
• Directness in delivering unwelcome advice
• Discipline with deadlines that cannot move, such as statutes of limitations and filing cutoffs
• Ability to write plainly after years of training to write like a lawyer
• Composure in a hearing or a negotiation that is going badly

Education

• Juris Doctor from an ABA-accredited law school required
• Bachelor’s degree in any field; an undergraduate degree in accounting, engineering, or science is useful for tax, patent, and healthcare practice

Certifications

• Active bar admission in the state of practice required, and in good standing
• Admission to the relevant federal district courts for litigation roles
• Board certification in a specialty (available in Florida, Texas, California, and several other states) or registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for patent work

Preferred Qualifications

• 2 or more years in the same practice area and setting as the opening
• Judicial clerkship experience for litigation roles
• Admission in more than one state, or eligibility for admission by motion
• Experience managing outside counsel budgets for in-house roles
• Experience using AI-assisted document review or contract analysis tools on live matters
• Industry background matching the employer, such as healthcare, construction, or financial services
• Trial experience as first chair, or deal experience as lead drafter, as the role requires

How Much Does an Attorney Make?